Is There Friction In Space

Friction is a surface effect and doesn t depend upon there being air.

Is there friction in space. However normal surface friction occurs whenever two surfaces rub together. The friction of water sloshing around in tides on the earth is an interesting example. As there is no air in space there is no friction due to air in space.

But this dust will not cause any significant drag unless you move really fast relative to the dust say at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Indeed as you realise there is no friction in space. There is also a force like air resistance from the very sparse gas in space but it will be very very small since space is a very good vacuum.

In space it is the lack of air that prevents air friction from occurring. We say that when an object moves through space time it distorts space time stretches it compresses it. In space where there is no friction between the car and air to contend with you can coast almost forever albeit perhaps not in a perfectly straight line or until you hit something which given how big space is is astronomically unlikely.

Which means that if your engine stops working in space at top speed it s not going to give you any trouble getting to your destination. There is a kind of friction but perhaps interaction would be a better choice of word as i d prefer to avoid the notion of classical friction forces. So when there is a vacuum there cant be friction.

It s a little deeper than that. On a straight road with good tires you can coast quite a long way on even a slight downgrade. In space where there is no friction between the car and air to contend with you can coast even at top speed almost forever albeit perhaps not in a perfectly straight line due to gravitation or until you hit something which given how big space is is literally astronomically unlikely.

For friction to happen gas should be there in the space. No there is none because in space it is a vacuum meaning there is a near total absence of particles which can cause friction. As you know there is vacuum in space.